The present invention relates to portable floor systems for mounting on floors, and more particularly but not exclusively to a portable floor system constructed of interlocking panels and displaying a graphic surface on a top face thereof.
Portable floor systems are known in the art and are employing interlocking panels mounted on an existing floor surface. Portable floor systems serve many purposes. For instance, a portable floor system may be used as a permanent or temporary dance floor, in order to protect the existing floor surface from the wear inherent to a dance floor. Portable floor systems have also been known to embellish or display a specific design on existing floor surfaces.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,634,309, issued on Jun. 3, 1997 to Polen discloses a portable dance floor in which a plurality of identical square sections are assembled. The square sections are held together magnetically and are aligned by male/female couplers. Ramp members are attachable to the outer perimeter of the assembled square sections.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,006,486, issued on Dec. 28, 1999 to Moriau et al. introduces a floor panel with edge connectors for a portable floor system. In this case, edges of two opposite sides of a panel are provided with coupling parts cooperating with each other. The coupling parts are substantially in the form of a tongue and a groove and are provided with integrated mechanical locking elements which prevent the drifting apart of joined floor panels. The coupling parts form a fixed part of the floor panels. This Patent further discloses a method for milling the above mentioned coupling parts of the floor panels.
The above mentioned portable floor systems have many advantages. For instance, they can be installed with ease as no tools nor mechanical fasteners, such as screws, nails or the like are required. U.S. Pat. No. 5,634,309 is advantageous in providing coupling means for all lateral side surfaces of the panels. From a top plan view, the panels of this patent are coupled in both the X and the Y axis directions. This feature ensures the integrity of the assembly.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,006,486 discloses permanent floor covering made of panels that interconnect in snap-fit interlocking engagement by machine configured tongues and grooves. This provides increased resistance to prevent the drifting apart of two coupled panels in a direction perpendicular to the related edges of the coupled panels, in comparison with the magnetic forces previously disclosed. Another advantage resides in the fact that adjacent panels need not be slid one into the other to be coupled. The tongue coupling part of a panel may slightly be inserted in a groove coupling part from above an adjacent panel, to then be pressed down for full cooperating engagement with the groove coupling part. The assembly of panels is thus more easily achieved and accelerated.
It would be desirable to provide a portable floor system which includes the advantages described above in addition to providing several other advantages, such as being economical to manufacture, providing durable precision graphics, lightweight, easy to expand, easy to repair, and which can be transported and stored in a limited amount of space.
It is a feature of the present invention to provide a portable graphic floor system having panels interlocked in perpendicular directions with simple interconnecting members and providing the abovementioned desirable feature.
According to the above aim of the present invention, from a broad aspect, the present invention provides a panel for a portable floor system comprising a rectangular core defining an upper surface and a lower surface extending parallel to the upper surface and lateral side surfaces extending from edges of the upper surface to edges of the lower surface. Frame members are connected to the lateral side surfaces and define outwardly projecting channels. Each of the frame members have opposed spaced parallel horizontal walls defining an upper wall and a lower wall, and further have a transverse connecting end wall for connection to the lateral side surfaces. A top layer is integrally joined to the upper surface of the rectangular core and extends over the upper walls of the frame members to conceal the frame members. The channels of the frame members have retention means for releasably securing at least one connecting member for joining the panel to another one of the panel in side-by-side aligned relationship.
According to a further broad aspect of the present invention there is provided a portable floor system adapted to be mounted on a floor and comprising a plurality of panels defining a floor surface. Each of the panels has a rectangular core defining an upper surface and a lower surface extending parallel to the upper surface and lateral side surfaces extending from edges of the upper surface to edges of the lower surface. Frame members are connected to the lateral side surfaces and define outwardly projecting channels. Each of the frame members have opposed spaced parallel horizontal walls defining an upper wall and a lower wall, and further have a transverse connecting end wall for connection to the lateral side surfaces. A top layer is integrally joined to the upper surface of the rectangular core and extends over the upper walls of the frame members to conceal the frame members. The channels of the frame members have retention means for releasably securing connecting members for joining at least two of the panels to adjacent lateral side surfaces of one of the panels in side-by-side aligned relationship.
According to a still further broad aspect of the present invention there is provided a method for assembly of a portable floor system on a floor surface to provide a temporary floor of an outer perimeter of predetermined dimension. The method comprises the steps of:
(i) inserting a free end portion of a channel of an inclined second panel to a connecting member releasably secured within a channel of a first panel lying flat on a floor surface;
(ii) downwardly hinging the second panel to an assembled position with the first panel, wherein the first panel and the second panel are connected together, co-planar and in side-by-side relationship;
(iii) slidably inserting an identical one of the connecting member in opposed adjacent channels of a third panel assembled to the first panel and a fourth panel assembled to the second panel, thereby assembling the third panel to the fourth panel;
(iv) continuing assembling further panels according to steps (i), (ii), and (iii) until the floor of predetermined dimension is complete;
(v) inserting a connecting portion of an inclined end connecting member to the free ends of at least two of the channels to overlap at least two of the panels defining the outer perimeter;
(vi) downwardly hinging the end connecting member to an assembled position with the at least two of the panels;
(vii) continuing assembling further end connecting members according to steps (v) and (vi) to immovably interlock all of the panels together.